Sunday May 27, 2001.

Lynx Falter Against Rhinos
Home game against tired Rhinos not enough to ensure win.
by David Bailey, Special to CanadaKicks
The Rochester Raging Rhinos, playing their second game in two nights and outplayed by the Toronto Lynx, were able to put it together when it mattered defeating the home side
1 - 0 on a second half goal by Lenin Steenkamp in front of an announced crowd of 2,027 at Varsity Stadium.

The goal by the sixth year Rhino's midfielder came totally against the run of play.  Nate Daliggon fed a short pass to Steenkamp who had time to stop the ball before sending a left-footed blast towards goal that deflected off Lynx defender Marco Reda leaving keeper Theo Zagar with little chance of making a save. 

Toronto came close in the last few minutes when Francisco Dos Santos spotted Rhino's goalie Scott Vallow of his line.  His 50 yard shot beat the keeper but went just wide of the left post.  Aaron Benjamin should have tied the match in the 88th minute when a cross from Waldo Sponton found the substitute striker all alone in the Rhino's box but his glancing header from point blank range slid wide of the right post.

The Rhinos were a tired group of soccer players when their flight touched down at 3am following their 3 nil US Open Cup victory over the PDL's Western Mass Pioneers although Rochester coach Pat Ercoli made sure that his key players saw limited time in the non-league match.  "I think we were kind of sluggish.  We picked up the intensity in the second half but essentially, in the end, you could see that both teams were tired" said the former resident of Toronto. 

The Lynx also looked sluggish squandering several golden opportunities and a downcast head coach Peter Pinizzotto was not happy with the result but was quick to defend his squad.  "We blew a good chance to get four points tonight.  I thought the team played well.  We dominated.  (The goal) deflected off of Marco Reda (and) they got a couple of chances in the last few minutes of the game while we were pushing but overall I'm proud of the way (we) played." 

Although Pinizzotto deflected media criticism of his club, he wasn't afraid to level some criticism of his own stating "We definitely need to score goals.  If Francisco had scored on his two (opportunities) in the first half and Aaron would have finished, maybe the game could have finished different for us."

Apart from the loss, the Lynx may have lost rookie striker Kristian Grzetic who went down after a challenge from behind in the second half.  Pinizzotto admitted that his absence was costly.  "We lost something.  We lost somebody up front that can be a target guy.  He is a player that you always need to watch.  Hopefully he can play on Tuesday."

Notes:  The Lynx next match is their annual "School Day" fixture taking place on Tuesday, May 29th at 11:30am against the Connecticut Wolves ..... due to typically odd A-League scheduling, Toronto plays two more home games on Sunday, June 3rd (Pittsburgh Riverhounds) and Sunday, June 10th (Hershey Wildcats) before finally playing their first road match on Friday, June 15th against the Montreal Impact ..... the Lynx are still without the services of the injured Juan Arango but Pinizzotto hopes to have him in the line-up for the Riverhounds match ..... while Rochester is without Canadian international goalkeeper Pat Onstad, currently in Japan with Canada's Confederation Cup side, the Rhino's goal is well defended by the young Scott Vallow.  Ercoli told Canada Kicks "Right now there isn't really a #1.  Both of them (Onstad and Vallow) are equally good and the team is equally comfortable with either one.  There has been a rotation between the two and the team camaraderie, even between the two keepers, has been great." 

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